Since 2006, the Moore Institute of the National University of Ireland in Galway hosts, under the direction of Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, a biannual conference on the science of computus in the Middle Ages. The science of computus – the mathematics required to calculate the date of Easter, and related topics (incl. astronomical observations and calculations) – straddles the fields of mathematics and astronomy, biblical interpretation and cosmology, empirical astronomical observation, and the perennial quest to understand the concepts of time and time-reckoning.

The core period covered by the conference stretches from the formation of Easter calculations in the third century to the introduction of Arabic and Greek science in the Latin West in the 12th century, but papers on the reckoning of time and its cultural context in the later Middle Ages have also always been welcomed. Each conference had a special theme (the formation of computus in Late Antiquity; the rise of prognostications in the early Middle Ages; the revolution of computus in the 11th and 12th centuries; etc.).

The establishment of the Galway conference in 2006 and the simultaneous publication of Arno Borst’s 3-volume Schriften zur Komputistik im Frankenreich, 721–818 (which was launched in Galway that year) brought the subject into the mainstream of Medieval Studies. The progress since has been immense, and the 10th anniversary of both the Galway conference and Borst’s Schriften is the ideal time to review this progress. Therefore, the 6th International Conference on the Science of Computus in the Middle Ages, to be held in Galway on 8-10 July 2016, will have a major emphasis on scientific thought in the Carolingian period.

6th International Conference on the Science of Computus in the Middle Ages

Old Moore Institute, NUI Galway, 8-10 July 2016

Friday, 8 July

16:00-18:00 — Session 1: Liber Nemroth

Barbara Obrist (Geneva) Nemroth’s cosmology and computus in the 12th century

David Juste (Munich) The lost astrological chapters of the Liber Nemroth and the origin of the text

Sabine Rauch (Dublin) Number symbolic ideas in Byrhtferth’s diagrams of the Enchiridion

Rebecca Stephenson (Dublin) Visualizing computus: Byrhtferth of Ramsey’s diaSince 2006, the Moore Institute of the National University of Ireland in Galway hosts, under the direction of Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, a biannual conference on the science of computus in the Middle Ages. The science of computus – the mathematics required to calculate the date of Easter, and related topics (incl. astronomical observations and calculations) – straddles the fields of mathematics and astronomy, biblical interpretation and cosmology, empirical astronomical observation, and the perennial quest to understand the concepts of time and time-reckoning.

The core period covered by the conference stretches from the formation of Easter calculations in the third century to the introduction of Arabic and Greek science in the Latin West in the 12th century, but papers on the reckoning of time and its cultural context in the later Middle Ages have also always been welcomed. Each conference had a special theme (the formation of computus in Late Antiquity; the rise of prognostications in the early Middle Ages; the revolution of computus in the 11th and 12th centuries; etc.).

The establishment of the Galway conference in 2006 and the simultaneous publication of Arno Borst’s 3-volume Schriften zur Komputistik im Frankenreich, 721–818 (which was launched in Galway that year) brought the subject into the mainstream of Medieval Studies. The progress since has been immense, and the 10th anniversary of both the Galway conference and Borst’s Schriften is the ideal time to review this progress. Therefore, the 6th International Conference on the Science of Computus in the Middle Ages, to be held in Galway on 8-10 July 2016, will have a major emphasis on scientific thought in the Carolingian period.

6th International Conference on the Science of Computus in the Middle Ages

Old Moore Institute, NUI Galway, 8-10 July 2016

Friday, 8 July

16:00-18:00 — Session 1: Liber Nemroth

Barbara Obrist (Geneva) Nemroth’s cosmology and computus in the 12th century

David Juste (Munich) The lost astrological chapters of the Liber Nemroth and the origin of the text